Everyone knows groceries cost more than they used to. But here's what the numbers actually say: if you live in the South Island, your annual grocery bill just crossed $15,305. That's $1,275 a month. For a household pulling in the median income of around $70,000, that's 22% of your pre-tax earnings going straight to food.

Five years ago, in 2020, that same household spent $12,509 on groceries. The difference? $2,796 more every year. (Source: Stats NZ, food-price-index-regional)

Put another way: you're now spending an extra $233 every month just to eat the same things you ate in 2020. That's a power bill. That's half a week's rent in some towns. That's the monthly payment on a modest car loan.

And it's not slowing down. Between 2023 and 2024, South Island grocery bills climbed by $241. That sounds small until you realise it's the continuation of a trajectory that started during COVID and never stopped. From 2020 to 2021, the increase was $257. From 2021 to 2022, it jumped $969. From 2022 to 2023, another $1,329.

The steepest climb happened between 2022 and 2023, right when inflation was supposed to be cooling. Households absorbed a $1,329 increase in a single year. That's more than the annual cost of home contents insurance for most Kiwis.

This isn't a Wellington story or an Auckland story. This is every town south of Cook Strait. Christchurch. Dunedin. Invercargill. Queenstown. Every South Island household, regardless of income, is now spending over fifteen grand a year just to keep the fridge stocked.

And here's the uncomfortable part: wages haven't kept pace. The median wage has risen, yes, but not by $2,796 over five years. Which means something else in your budget had to give. Maybe it was the emergency fund. Maybe it was KiwiSaver contributions. Maybe it was the holiday you didn't take or the dentist appointment you postponed.

The data goes back 50 years, to 1975. We've never spent this much of our income on groceries in nominal terms. Adjusted for inflation, the 1980s and early 1990s were worse. But in raw dollars? This is the peak. And unlike those earlier decades, we're not coming out of a recession with wages about to surge. We're in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis with no clear end.

Fifteen thousand, three hundred and five dollars. That's not a statistic. That's your money.